Chaumtoli Huq
Legal Officer at Focus on Labour Exploitation, where she conducts research and advocacy on corporate and government accountability, workers’ rights and access to justice. She has also worked as a legal consultant for the Anti-Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling Section at the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, conducting legal research and analysis of human trafficking case law from multiple jurisdictions around the world. You can follow her on twitter @Ainhoa_Barre
In the past 68 years we have witnessed profound changes in the world economy, with globalization and the development of complex cross-border supply chains. While the globalization of capital markets and trade have brought benefits to businesses, workers and consumers, it has also created a competitive environment between producing countries, prompting regulators to outbid each other in their efforts to “ease-up” doing business and reduce labor and operational costs. This race to the bottom, coupled with increasing pressures on prices in the global marketplace, constitute the perfect ingredients for labor exploitation to thrive.
In response, civil society and the international community have increasingly pushed for greater accountability and transparency on the part of governments and corporations. Positive developments include the adoption of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in 2011, the publication of OECD Guidance on the subject, and proposals to adopt legally binding instruments both at the European and UN levels.
Seeking to address human trafficking and forced labor specifically, new mechanisms aimed at promoting transparency in supply chains have been adopted in the UK Modern Slavery Act and the 2010 California Transparency in Supply Chains Act. These laws require companies to report on what steps they are taking to address human trafficking and forced labor within their own operations and supply chains. The rationale for these laws is that greater transparency in supply chains allows companies to better identify and address risks and instances of exploitation, and enables consumers and investors to make informed choices regarding the practices and businesses they want to support.
These laws represent a step in the right direction, prompting businesses to look more closely into what is going on in their supply chains. However, transparency on its own is not enough to ensure that companies effectively prevent, and protect workers against, the negative impacts of their activities. To meet the letter of these laws, companies are not required to take any particular action or change any of their practices, they are simply required to produce a publicly available report. Moreover, transparency and reporting mechanisms are based on the assumption that the reputational risk of the corporate brand being associated with human rights abuses will suffice to bring about change in corporate behavior. While this might be a valid approach in consumer facing industries, a large number of companies only sell to other businesses, and others may not have recognizable brands.
Transparency is a vital first step, but companies and governments must go further if they truly want to address exploitation. If not accompanied by similarly robust action to promote accountability, the proliferation of transparency requirements could create the impression that it is sufficient for businesses to talk about human rights abuses without taking action, contributing to the prevailing sense of impunity. In addition to promoting transparency, it is also important for governments, civil society and ethical businesses to promote greater accountability to ensure that companies do not only admit to, but also take responsibility for, exploitation in their supply chains. Under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, companies are expected not only to ‘avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights impacts through their own activities’, but also to address and prevent ‘human rights impacts that are directly linked to their operations, products or services … even if they have not contributed to those impacts’. Companies can and must go further to prevent the negative impacts of their operations, to promptly identify and end exploitative practices in their supply chains, and to provide redress for any harm done.
Importantly, a narrow focus on transparency risks fails to recognize workers as right-bearers and ignores barriers to justice. Disclosure is a corporate exercise of transparency and information sharing, but does not address the abuse of individual human or labor rights of workers. States have an obligation to provide a legal framework regulating corporate activity in line with international human rights and labor standards, and crucially, to enforce such legislation effectively. A key gap in transparency legislation is that it does not engage with State obligations to safeguard human rights, and the many failures of States to prevent violations or remedy abuses, placing focus instead on voluntary company actions.
Transparency should extend beyond company reporting and include transparency about the existence and use of legal frameworks to protect workers and the actions of governments to address exploitation. A key finding of the Labour Exploitation Accountability Hub, developed by Focus on Labour Exploitation, is that while a vast number of laws exist to protect workers, States consistently fail to enforce these laws: weak labour inspection, inadequate deterrent measures and limited access to justice, have too often left workers exposed to exploitation and abuse. The Hub supports civil society, workers’ organizations and ethical businesses in advocating for greater accountability and enhanced protection of the rights of workers, and to help build collaboration and information sharing among these groups. The Hub facilitates this conversation by providing free access to information about workers’ legal rights, employer and state obligations, as well as information and resources on exploitation in various country contexts.
Today, just like 68 years ago, all human beings are born free an equal, but not all of us see our rights respected. Only a comprehensive rights-based approach, combining transparency in supply chains with greater corporate and government accountability can provide a global, sustainable solution to labor exploitation in supply chains. Progress has been made in recent years, but it is the role of advocates, workers’ organizations and ethical businesses to continue to push for action beyond words.
Ainhoa Barrenechea,is the Legal Officer at Focus on Labour Exploitation, where she conducts research and advocacy on corporate and government accountability, workers’ rights and access to justice. She has also worked as a legal consultant for the Anti-Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling Section at the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, conducting legal research and analysis of human trafficking case law from multiple jurisdictions around the world. You can follow her on Twitter @Ainhoa_Barre.
